BlackBerry Shares Rise After Rosy Comments by CEO

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- BlackBerry shares rose 6.1 percent
after Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins told a Spanish
newspaper that the company’s new Z10 model has drawn more
interest than expected from users of rival smartphones.

“We are receiving a very positive response to BlackBerry
10 from our customers, but it’s also been attractive for
customers coming from other platforms,” Heins said in an
interview with Expansion. “We are a little surprised by that.”

BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion Ltd., is
rolling out the Z10 country by country -- part of a bid to win
back market share lost to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics
Co.’s Galaxy. Heins said last month that sales have been above
the Waterloo, Ontario-based company’s “ambitious” expectations
and production has increased.

The shares climbed to $13.35 at the close in New York, the
biggest jump in almost three weeks. BlackBerry’s stock has risen
12 percent this year.

“Operators are supporting us a lot because they want
BlackBerry 10 to be an alternative to Samsung and Apple and
they’ve seen it’s a real alternative,” Heins said in the
Expansion interview.

Mexico Debut

Separately, BlackBerry said today that the Z10 will go on
sale in Mexico on March 20 through America Movil SAB’s Telcel
unit. While the Z10 will be available in 21 countries by the end
of this week -- including Canada, the U.K. and India -- carriers
have yet to give a firm release date for the phone in the U.S.
BlackBerry also hasn’t given specific dates for the debut of the
Q10, a model with a physical keyboard.

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. carrier, has said it
plans to offer the Z10 at the end of March. T-Mobile USA,
meanwhile, has said it’s planning to release the Z10 around the
middle of the month.

Heins is counting on Z10 and the Q10 to appeal to
BlackBerry’s faithful, as well as new users who appreciate the
company’s reputation for security. Apple’s iOS software and
Google Inc.’s Android operating system, used by Samsung,
together accounted for 91 percent of global smartphone sales in
the fourth quarter, according to IDC. BlackBerry dropped to 3.2
percent.